Immigrants to Canada

Passengers of the John McKenzie

The JOHN McKENZIE sailed from the Clyde May 18, l857 and arrived at Quebec shortly before June 26, l857. What makes this ship notable is that many of the passengers were then loaded onto the steamship Montreal which was to take them from Quebec City to Montreal. What followed was one of the worst marine disasters in Canadian history.

The following passenger list was extracted from the Toronto Globe of Thursday, July 2, l857, and was printed in conjunction with the news story about the fire on the steamer MONTREAL in the St. Lawrence River on July 26, l857. It was extracted by Dan Denby. Here are some of the details:

THE 1857 "MONTREAL" TRAGEDY

On the afternoon of Friday June 26, 1857, 250 Scottish emigrants from the recently arrived ship, the "John McKenzie", boarded the paddle steamer "Montreal" at Quebec City. They were bound for the city of Montreal, 180 miles up the St. Lawrence River. Also on board were Norwegian emigrants and some local people. Passenger were estimated to be more than 300.

At about 5 oclock pm, the "Montreal" had reached Cap Rouge, some 12 miles above Quebec, when fire was discovered in wooden panelling surrounding the boiler. Efforts by the crew to extinguish the fire failed, and it quickly spread through the wooden superstructure. With no hope of stopping the flames an attempt was made to beach the ship in shallow water, but she struck a rock and was held fast 800 feet from shore.

Passengers forced up onto the crowded decks were faced with smoke and flames. There were no life preservers aboard and the only two boats were launched and quickly overfilled and swamped. As the fire raged, the only choices were to remain and burn or to go overboard into the water. Many passengers were severely burned before they jumped overboard. Among the passengers were many families with children.

About a half mile ahead of the "Montreal", another ship the "Napoleon" was loaded with emigrants and also headed for Montreal. When the fire was noticed, the "Napoleon" returned to assist. A large bateau was launched from the "Napoleon" and survivors were pulled from the water, but in the 20 minutes it had taken the "Napoleon" to return and commence rescue, over 200 people had drowned. Many of the victims were children. The Montreal burned to the waterline.

The survivors, many with serious burns, were taken by the "Napoleon" to Montreal. In the days following, the dead were carried to Montreal for identification- where possible, and burial. The Inquest lasted for 2 weeks and the number of victims was set at 248. Initially on May 26, 16 bodies were taken to Montreal and an inquest started. On June 2, the jury was dismissed and the rest of the inquest was held at Quebec. Most of the bodies were taken to Quebec and buried there. The burning of the "Montreal" in 1857 was the worst shipping disaster to have occurred in Canadian waters to that date.

Footnotes:- The "John Mckenzie" had sailed from the Clyde on May 18^th with 332 emigrant passengers. Upon arrival at Quebec, 2 passengers had died at sea; 69 left Quebec by train; 2 remained in Quebec and 250 chose to board the ill fated "Montreal." The "Montreal" was built in 1855, registered at 1005 gross tons and was owned by John Wilson of Quebec. There had been 2 previous fires in the boiler enclosure that season, but they had been extinguished.

The various death reports are conflicting and, as well, the May 27 and 29 copies of the Globe are missing on the microfilm which was used so it isn't possible to make an accurate list of victims from the resources available.

From Steam Navigation by James Croil, (Toronto:1898)

"The Montreal, also a large and fine steamer, was lost in a snow-storm near Batiscan, in November, 1853, and was replaced by the Lord Sydenham, afterwards lengthened to 250 feet, and renamed the Montreal...."

"The Richelieu Steamboat Company, formed in 1845, commenced business by running a market boat to Sorel. In 1856 they put two small steamers on the through line to Quebec, the Napoleon and the Victoria. About this time Messrs. Tate Brothers, ship-builders, in Montreal, purchased the Lady Colborne, renamed her the Crescent, and coupling her with the Lady Elgin, started a fourth line of steamers to ply between Montreal and Quebec. The business had already been overdone, and this was the last straw that breaks the camel's back. The opposition had gone far enough when it had reduced the cabin fare to $1.00, including meals and stateroom and the steerage passage to 12.5 cents! The excitement that prevailed at this time was intense. The arrival and departure of the boats at either end of the route were scenes of indescribable confusion. Vast crowds of people assembled on the wharves, while clouds of smoke issuing from the funnels and the roar of escaping steam plainly indicated that the stokers were doing their level best to burst the boilers. This vicious and ruinous opposition was brought to an end by a tragic occurrence, the burning of the steamer Montreal."

"On a fine summer evening in June, 1857, while on her voyage from Quebec with a load of over 400 passengers, most of whom were emigrants from Scotland, who had just completed a long sea voyage, and were gazing with interest on the shores that in anticipation were to offer them happy homes, suddenly the cry of "Fire!" was raised. Clouds of smoke burst out from between decks. A panic ensured. Groups of men and women clung to each other in despair, imploring help that was not to be found; then a wild rush, with the terrible alternative of devouring flames and the cold water below. Two hundred and fifty-three persons perished; and all the more sadly that the calamity was traced by public opinion and the press of the day to "culpable recklessness and disregard of human life." A truce to ruinous opposition ensured. An amicable arrangement was reached, by which superfluous boats were withdrawn. The bulk of the passenger business fell to the Richelieu Company, which continued for a number of years to do a lucrative trade, paying handsome annual dividends to its shareholders." pp. 314-315.

Passenger list for the John McKenzie

Additional information from the Montreal Gazette of 1857.

If any one has additional information please contact marj@ist.uwaterloo.ca

UWInfo | Young Immigrants | Genealogy | Local History | 19th Century Immigration

© Marjorie P. Kohli, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 1999 Last updated: July 1999 Maintained by marj@ist.uwaterloo.ca

FARRAR POTTERY OF FAIRFAX, VERMONT

The above house known as the Koch House is in the area where the second Farrar Pottery was located

The above photo of the building that used to be just below the Koch House is thought to have been the Farrar Pottery Business at one time (Donna Meunier is helping me with Research)

The above 4 gallon jug made by the W. H. Farrar & Co, with the incredible full bodied dotted rooster decor, just sold for $11,750.00 - This one was manufactured in Geddes, N.Y, not Fairfax, but by the same company that originated in Fairfax then expanded and moved to both St. John's, P.Q., Canada and Syracuse, N.Y.

Just a few photos of the Farrar Pottery

The INDUSTRY OF CERAMICS
At the end of the 19th century, the reputation of Midsummer's Day in the field of ceramics extends through Canada and New England. Midsummer's Day becomes the capital of ceramics thanks to its geographical situation. The clay, imported from Vermont and transformed at Midsummer's Day, gives a sandstone much more solid than the local terra cotta. This sandstone is used for manufacture the of buckets, tubs and jugs of which splendid specimens are preserved at the regional Museum of Haut-Richelieu, located on the place of the Market.
After having learned their trade from ceramist in Vermont, Moses Farrar, Montréalais of birth, and his/her brother-in-law Isaac Newton Soule established at Midsummer's Day in 1840, the first sandstone factory of Quebec. In 1850, Moses Farrar gains the first price of the sandstone potteries to the industrial exposure of Montreal.
Located at the corner of the streets Longueuil and Saint-Georges, this factory is destroyed by fire in 1857 to be rebuilt in buildings more roomy, more modern and equipped better.
In 1866, George Withfield Farrar launches out in the production of white earthenware. He will buy in 1873 a ground with the angle of the streets Partition(Saint-Georges) and Grant(Laurier) to build there the workshops of St Johns Stone Chinaware Co on the current site of the Alphonse-Lorraine park. The new faience manufacture manufactures a crockery intended for the dining rooms hotel, railway and maritime services.
The fire of 1893 carries a hard blow with St Johns Stone Chinaware. This pottery, rebuilt in 1895, with half of its initial size, will be unused in 1899. The building will be resold in 1911 with the catholic clergy which will establish the college of Midsummer's Day there.
The first superior of the college is Mgr Joseph-Arthur Papineau, which becomes bishop of Joliette in 1928. October 19, 1939, the college of Midsummer's Day is shaved by fire; it is relocated to the 30, boulevard of the Northern Seminar, on a batch pertaining to the Papineau family.
Of all the factories of earthenware and ceramics of Midsummer's Day, only Canadian Potteries Limited, today the Cranium Canada Inc, will survive thanks to its specialization in the medical field.

Treasures... in Memphremagog lake

by: Jacques Boisvert- President August 1997

(Source: http://www.interlinx.qc.ca/memphre/pot.html)
Wile scuba divng, July 27 1997, facing "Belmere", which was once Sir Huh Allan's residence on Lake Memphremagog, I found a two gallon jug. It bore the insription "E.L. & G.W. Farrar, Fairfax, VT." Immediately I realized I had found an artifact that could be 150 years old.
With this new find I referred to the reference book "Early New England Potters and to their Wares". In this, is shown dating August 26 1840, from the VERMONT STONE WARE firm, owned by George W and J H. Farrar of Fairfax, Vermont. From a bill we note that the 2 gallon jug was selling for $43.00 dozen, which is butt $0.35 each.
It is difficult to know exactly what year the ancestor Farrar started his pottery business. We know that He was named Isaac Brown Farrar, born in 1771. He was in Enosburgh, VT, in 1798. Farrar was the first clerk of that town and his daughter was the first white child recorded there. We do not know in which year He moved to Fairfax, we may guess that it was around 1815, and would been old enough then to be in business with his father.
His its Ebenezer Lawrence (E.L.) and the one bearing the initial J.H. were in business in 1840 aces the bill noted mentions.
Eventually Ebenezer Lawrence (E.L.). bought the Farrar & Soule pottery At St John, Quebec and George Whitefield (G.W.) Farrar. his brother became associate with him in 1857.
So I edge deduct from these details that the pottery found in this lake, dating between 1840 and1857.
In A small entitled publication: POTTERY IN QUEBEC, a history of family we edge read: "impossible It is in the first years of" Farrar pottery ", to trace has clear demarcation line between the activities of the Canadian and American Farrarr. The story of these potters of St John, Quebec is closely related to the potters of Vermont.(A) see French text Below
Two Farrar brothers, died in the burning of has steamboat one the St Lawrence River. This ship boron the name "THE ST.LAWRENCE". They were among 200 victims that loss to their life in that incidental.
To find such year artifact have the jug noted, is has great reward, for all the diving I cuts been doing through the years. Also it is proving my not, that by diving, I will, with time, Be whitebait to produce has more exacting history of Lake Memphremagog.
(A) (It is impossible, in the first years, to trace a line of clear demarcation between the activities of Farrar Canadian and American. The history of the Farrar potters of Midsummer's Day is related to that of the potters of Vermont.)

Pottery History Website:

http://www.artnet.com/library/02/0275/T027596.asp

Actual Photos of Pottery Found In Fairfax

Samples of Farrar Pottery Manufactured in Fairfax

Samples of Bostwick Pottery Manufactured in Fairfax

Farrar Redware Crock
Made at L.W. Farrar Pottery (1831-1850), Fairfax. Incised mark: "L. W. Farrar."

It appears that pottery in Fairfax was first manufactured in 1810 and the makers of pottery appear to have moved out of town between 1860 and 1870.

FAIRFAX POTTERY FALLS INTO 2 CATEGORIES:

1 - Red Earthware fashioned from native clay. Native clay was found in river beds and near large bodies of water.

Redware is one of the least durable ceramic types. Porous and brittle, it easily cracked and chipped. Red earthware has not survived in quantity. It was intended for the humbler domestic purposes. The local glacial clay was also used for common bricks.

2 - Stoneware made with materials brought from outside the New England states. This material was transported from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Isaac Broun Farrar, son of Rev. Stephen Farrar, was born March 27, 1771. He was born and raised in Ipswich, N.H. He left New Hampshire in the year 1798. I.B. Broun was a potter.

Isaac Broun Farrar appeared in Enosburgh, VT in 1798. No one knows when he appeared in Fairfax, VT. I.B. Farrar had a son, Isaac Broun, who married Eveline Farrar, a cousin.

Eveline's father was Caleb Farrar of Middlebury, VT. Caleb was a well-known potter.

Other sons were Ebenezer Lawrence, Stephen and George W. J. H. Farrar (1840) may stand for another of Isaac's boys.

Records indicate that Isaac Broun Farrar, Sr. died in 1838 at 67 years of age.

Ebenezer Lawrence Farrar did business under his own name and also in partnership with G. W. Farrar.

In 1852 E. L. Farrar was in Burlington, VT., where he built a pottery work for the firm of Nichols and Alford.

Another Farrar, whose given name has not come to light was in partnership with one Stearns in 1851 and 1852. He may have been the son of Ebenezer Lawrence Farrar. Farrar & Stearns can be found on pottery. They made stoneware.

Lewis & Cady were also stoneware manufacturers. Pottery with their names can also be found.

Bostwick was also a name associated with Fairfax Pottery. Fairfax Historical Society has a piece of Bostwick Stoneware.

Below are some of the names found on Local Fairfax Pottery:

E. L. Farrer
Farrar & Stearns
Lewis & Cady
Fairfax, Vt
Farrar Pottery
E.L. & G.W. Farrar
I. B. Farrar & Son
Farrar & Hubbell
Farrar & Soule
S. H. & G. W. Farrar
Farrar & Woodworth

The above information was given to me by Marvin Alderman, formerly of Fairfax who is extremely knowledgeable of pottery.

"ONONDAGA - POTTERY CO. 1841, in Syracuse, New York, W. H. Farrar operated a pottery to make Rockingham. 1855 -1871, the plant was called the Empire Pottery. 1871, the plant was re-organized and the name changed to Onondaga Pottery Co. 1966, the name became Syracuse China Onondaga Pottery made china dinnerware.

History of Syracuse China

The company now known as Syracuse China was founded in 1871 as the Onondaga Pottery Company (O.P.Co.) in Geddes, New York (now a part of Syracuse). It was named after the county in which it was located and to celebrate that region's native Iroquois tribe. On July 20, 1871, sixteen local businessmen, who had purchased a struggling local pottery, incorporated, capitalized the company for $50,000, and began to expand its lines to produce white earthenware for table and toilet use.

Syracuse China is today one of the world's leading suppliers of commercial china for the foodservice industry. With over a century and a quarter of continuity, the firm can claim a rich heritage of product innovation and pride in an enduring quality of craftsmanship that has been passed from one generation to the next.

The pottery industry was not new to Geddes. Its roots were planted in 1841 when W.H. Farrar arrived from Vermont to establish a small pottery for making salt-glazed stoneware, an American ceramic product since Colonial times. His product-line grew to include a redware called Rockingham, reproducing English ware such as cast dogs and spittoons. Farrar moved his pottery closer to the Erie Canal in 1857. In 1868 he sold the business to a group who formed the Empire Crockery Manufacturing Company. It was managed by an English potter, Lyman Clark. When the Onondaga Pottery took over, it gained the building, its stock, and Clark.

A maverick from the start, O.P.Co. was located far from the New Jersey and Ohio centers of ceramic manufacture. Though there were no natural sources of clay or coal in Central New York, and no clay workers in the region, raw materials and fuel were easily transported on the Erie Canal and the railroads.

Clark hired English potters and trained local men. The new company soon expanded its facilities. At first the company backstamped its ware with the English Lion and Unicorn Arms. In 1873 it dropped its reference to England and adopted the Great Seal of the State of New York to mark the improvements in its ironstone ware. When Clark left, another English potter, Richard Pass, took his place as Superintendent.

Until 1884 the ware went undecorated. That year Elmer Walter established the Boston China Decorating Works across from the pottery, giving the company access to a designer, printer and hand decorator. In 1886, after fire destroyed the decorating shop, the pottery hired Walter and his employees and established one of the earliest in-house decorating departments in the industry.

The Birth of "Syracuse China"
In 1885, Richard's son, James Pass, joined O.P.Co as Superintendent, later becoming President. During his twenty-eight years with the company he made it a national leader in ceramic research. In 1888 he developed America's first truly vitreous china body. Pass introduced the new china body to the public in 1891 with a line of fancy accessory pieces called Imperial Geddo. His new ware won the medal for translucent china at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Two years later, in 1895, the name "Syracuse China" appeared in the backstamp of this revolutionary china. The company continued to produce the earthenware body until 1897, when it was discontinued. From then on, all ware was and still is made of vitreous "Syracuse China."

Hotels Become a Major Market
With the introduction of its chip-resistant Round Edge shape in 1896, O.P.Co. became the national leader in the fast growing hotel ware market, where a heavier, more durable product was needed for restaurants and institutional use. To demonstrate the superiority of the Syracuse China hotel ware, company salesmen gave away over 2500 samples. Orders came in before production officially began. In that same year, the company installed the industry's first in-house lithographic shop for the printing of decals.

Fine China
O.P.Co's fine decorated translucent china for home use also became a national best seller. Made of the same durable Syracuse China body as hotel ware, it was jiggered into thinner, stylish shapes. In 1908, the company again led the industry in perfecting the underglaze decal process. Following James Pass's death in 1913, Bert Salisbury became President and led O.P.Co. to a new age of marketing and advanced technology. National advertising campaigns brought Syracuse China to the pages of major national magazines. In 1921, the company built a new hotel ware factory on Court Street, the first linear, one-floor plant in the American china industry. Manufacture of fine china continued in the Fayette Street plant until 1970 at which time it ceased, the plant was torn down, and all production moved to the Court Street Facility.

New Products
The company's research labs created two colored clay bodies, Old Ivory in 1926 and Adobe, a tan color, in 1931. In 1933, R. Guy Cowan became the company's chief designer. His art deco Econo-Rim shape (still in production) was introduced as a revolutionary design in hotel ware. Its narrow rim was especially suited for railroad and diner china where table space was at a premium. For decades, O.P.Co manufactured 70 percent of the nation's railroad china.

New Ventures
During World War II, the company, under the leadership of Richard Pass, developed and manufactured non-detectable ceramic anti-tank land mines. The company received the distinguished Army-Navy "E" award for excellence in service to the war effort. After the war they developed a record number of shapes and patterns for both commercial hotel and dinnerware china. In 1954 the Onondaga Pottery Electronics Division was formed to produce highly reliable printed circuit ceramic components for radio and television manufacturers, a venture that closed in 1959. In 1959 the company established a Canadian china-manufacturing subsidiary, the Vandesca Pottery Ltd. of Joliette, Quebec, the only pottery in Canada that manufactured vitrified china. It was closed in 1994. In 1966, O.P.Co. changed its name to Syracuse China Company, embodying th

New Management Acquires Company
As the company marked its 100th anniversary in 1971, processes of change already underway both inside and outside of the business shaped its entry into a second century as an industry leader. During its first century, the ownership of Syracuse China had been vested principally in two Syracuse families. Now, after four generations of direct involvement in the business, family ownership ended. New management purchased the assets of the old company and formed the new Syracuse China Corporation on September 30, 1971.

Merger Forms Strong Financial Ties
In April 1978, shareholders of Syracuse China Corporation voted to merge with Canadian Pacific Investments, Ltd., a multi-billion dollar corporation with successful worldwide investments in oil and gas resources, mines and minerals, forest products, iron and steel, real estate, hotels and foodservices, finance and other diversified businesses.
As a wholly-owner subsidiary of CPI, and retaining its corporate identity as well as the management team that had successfully operated the business, Syracuse China Corporation prospered despite intensifying challenges from overseas competition.

Mayer and Shenango Acquired
The company expanded its presence by acquiring the Mayer China Company in 1984 and Shenango Pottery in 1988. The Syracuse China Company closed both Pennsylvania plants and made the ware of all three companies at its Syracuse plant by the early 1990s.

Susquehanna-Pfaltzgraff Embraces Syracuse
In 1989, redirecting its assets into its core businesses, Canadian Pacific put the Syracuse China Company on the market. The Susquehanna-Pfaltzgraff Company of York, Pennsylvania, outbid more than twenty investors for the highly regarded pottery. After six years of ownership, the Pennsylvania firm returned to it's retail-oriented roots by selling the Syracuse China Company.

Libbey Inc. Emerges
In 1995, Libbey Inc. of Toledo, Ohio purchased the Syracuse China Company to complement its strong presence in the foodservice industry. Together, the two leading companies would go to market offering two of the oldest, and most respected brands in their categories. Libbey has subsequently invested millions of dollars of capital into the company. The industry successes achieved by Syracuse China for more than 125 years are being joined by new successes today.

Syracuse China

" Syracuse China: The tableware maker started in 1841 when W.H. Farrar founded Empire Pottery Co. on West Genesee Street to make whiskey jugs, butter crocks and pottery bowls. Now owned by Libbey, Inc., Syracuse China developed fully vitrified china, a product that was stronger than the porcelains of Europe.